“As for me, I will fight for every day and, while I know it’s improbable I can run from cancer forever, I also know that time doesn’t stop. I’ve got short-term and long-term goals, and, frankly, I’m too busy to die. My chair is firmly angled in the sunlight.”

Readers may recall your faithful social scribe opined that wine must have been involved — how else to explain my commitment to participate in the inaugural Dancing With Calgary Stars competition three years ago? Bill “Tango Terror” Brooks had lots of fun, but it was not nearly as easy as it looks on television.

Billed as Calgary’s newest can’t-miss fundraising party for the musically and gastronomically curious, Hullabaloo — the kickoff bash for Honens 2014, Canada’s International Festival of Piano — lived up to its billing. Held in the festival tent at Heritage Park on Sept. 4, guests were transported to 1914 Paris.

And belly dancers. And burlesque performances. And Calgary Firefighters Hot Stuff Calendar men wearing not much more than amazing body-painting. Fabulous food and wine. A fashion show featuring animal-inspired couture. And even wandering hand massages. On and on it goes. Such were the trappings at ZOOGALA 2014 — Gallivant, our beloved Calgary Zoo’s annual signature fundraiser held Sept. 5 at the zoo.

What started 25 years ago in Paris as an avant-garde and genteel picnic has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. Diner en Blanc, the must-attend enormous dinner party, took Calgary by storm Sept. 4 and saw more than 2,500 guests don their whitest of whites to sip, sup, see and be seen.

You know a city has come of age when it can host a world-class tournament the likes of the Shaw Charity Classic. Some of the greatest names in the game of golf were at the Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club for the tournament Aug. 27-31. The Champions Tour hit Calgary for the second year in a row and saw many of golf’s legends over the age of 50 challenge Canyon Meadows.

There’s Oscar. And Dora. And Rosie. But for those who work in professional theatre in our fair city, the name everyone covets is Betty. The Betty Mitchell Awards, named after one of our city’s theatrical pioneers, were started in 1998 to celebrate and honour the best of the best in Calgary’s professional theatre.

Ah, the halcyon days of summer. Does it get any better? The sad news for we gardening nuts is that the best is almost over, the days are getting shorter and before you know it, the f word (as in frost) will paint our gardens black. On a cheerier note, this is the perfect time of the year to prepare your garden’s report card. What worked this season? What didn’t? It was a strange gardening year as one would have thought the heavy snowfall would prove a boon, but below normal temperatures and a very late, cool spring stressed many a plants. Tried and true perennial workhorses that did well this season include: coral bells; bearded iris; black-eyed Susan; day lily; peony; purple cone flower; hosta; and sedum. Luckily, I didn’t have anything getting a failing grade.

Poet Joyce Kilmer put it well in her famous poem written in the 1900s with these immortal words “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.” There are, at last count, at least 23 reasons why one should plant a tree.

Stampede might have ended a week ago but the Rotary Club of Calgary is still celebrating the windfall in proceeds raised by the annual Oxford Stomp, a long-standing tradition in Calgary’s corporate community that celebrated its 26th year.

Trust the marketing wizards at Village Brewery to come up with a fun and quirky way to raise funds for a much-needed cause. For the second year in a row, the NutAle fundraiser was a great success and was supported by those who enjoy a pint of specially brewed ale — all the while raising money for the Prostate Cancer Centre.

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